Effectiveness of Antipsychotics

How effective is the 'biological treatment'?

One third of patients are positively affected by antipsychotics and are able to return to work and resume an independent life.

For the the remaining two thirds the picture is very different. One third experiences cyclic hospital admissions because of repeated emotional distress, trying to maintain some quality in between admissions. The remaining third are those patients whose lives are engulfed by the mental health world whether this entails being accommodated in secure units/hospitals or dwell in mental health accommodation in the community supported by mental health workers. It is these latter patients who are unable to resume a quality of independent life which is experienced by the first group of patients.

30% of patients are only minimally improved or can be clinically worse. Davies et al (1980)

How would I know whether antipsychotics would benefit me?No psychiatrist is able to guarantee who will respond favourably and who will not respond favourbally to antipsychotics drus. Prescibing is unscientific on a trial and error basis. However in general medicine prior to expensive drug treatments, a screening test known as the genotyping test can be taken determines whether a specific drug treatment is suitable for patients.

A genotyping test determines the presence or absence of certain naturally occurring enzymes within the body and connects this information to the profile of specific drugs. This subject area is known as pharmacogenetics.

When a genotyping test shows a specific drug is unsuitable, it is fruitless for doctors to prescribe that drug; it would not be therapeutic and will result in a poor outcome. When patients are prescribed unsuitable drugs they experience severe side effects due to the accumulation of the drugs toxicities in the body and brain.